It could be such nice pictures: US President Donald Trump and India’s premier Narendra Modi Hand in hand, thousands cheer them; the Trump couple in front of the Taj Mahal; Melania Trump as she attends a school class in New Delhi on Tuesday with flower chains around her neck.
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But at the same time and only a few kilometers away, dark columns of smoke rise above the city. In north-east Delhi, mobs are rampaging, the men carry sticks and Molotov cocktails, some also have firearms. TV channels show pictures of charred houses and cars. At least ten people have died so far, including a policeman who was hit on the head by a stone; more than 150 people were injured – dozens of gunshot wounds were sustained.
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The violence that broke out and continued in parts of Delhi on Sunday is one of the worst riots the city has seen in years. It could not come at a worse time for the government. The Trump visit should have been an opportunityto put the country’s image back in the right light and to remember its good sides: India, the largest democracy in the world, potential counterbalance to autocratic China, future economic superpower and haven of spirituality. It should make the growing criticism abroad – especially from the USA – forget. About that the government in Kashmir the longest blackout in the history of a democracy has ordered. Or that minorities in the country are increasingly concerned about their security. Modi’s critics fear the prime minister and his Hindu nationalist BJP plan to transform India into a Hindu state.
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Muslims and Hindus attack each other
The majority of Indians are Hindus, but all the world’s major religions are represented here. Islam is the largest minority with 14 percent. This is precisely what makes the new citizenship law so explosive: It makes naturalization easier for Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsi who fled Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan before 2014 and are irregularly in India. Almost every religious minority in South Asia, with one big exception: the Muslims. This is the first time that citizenship has been granted legally defined by religion,
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Protests against and for the law have been taking place all over the country since December. The controversy about it is increasingly dividing society and current developments fuel fears that the protests, which have so far been largely peaceful, could move into a new, more dangerous phase. According to reports, Hindus and Muslims targeted each other in Delhi on Monday and Tuesday.
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“Shoot the traitors!”
A photo by the Reuters news agency shows a man with a beard and Muslim headdress who is kneeling on the floor bleeding, his hands are protectively over his head. A group of men hits him with sticks and cricket bats. A photographer who Times of India reports on how a mob threatened to pull his pants down “to check his religion”. Religious institutions were also attacked.
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The cause of the violence was apparently the speech of a BJP politician near the neighborhood now affected. On Sunday, the politician warned those who demonstrate against the citizenship law of the consequences. In a video that he subsequently posted on Twitter, you can hear him saying: “As long as Trump is in India, we leave the area alone. But after that, we won’t listen to the police anymore.” Many perceived the speech as a threat – or, depending on the situation, as an encouragement: Subsequently, supporters of the two camps threw stones at each other.
It was not the first time that a ruling party politician has blatantly called for violence. At the end of January, a video of a Minister of State appeared in which he called out to his audience: “Shoot the traitors!” A few days later, a young man shot into a group of demonstrators. A student was injured in the hand.
Anti-Muslim rhetoric may harm India’s reputation abroad; inside, however, it gets caught. India has seen several bad riots between Hindus and Muslims in its history. Since Modi’s BJP came into power, Muslims have increasingly felt marginalized, and quite a few are panicked. Such sentences are well received by the Hindu majority, especially among young men. They believe that India’s ex-governments have adapted to the Muslim minority and suppressed the Hindu majority. The BJP regularly uses this feeling in the election campaign. Modi himself has repeatedly compared the demonstrators to terrorists and described them as an attempt to “drive a wedge between people”. It was always clear that this divisive propaganda could one day lead to violence – now it happened during Trump’s visit.
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